EURO 2004 Finals

[Mark Fletcher]

Team Id like best to win:
Czech Republic (Yay! )

Team Id least like to win:
Holland (Boo! )

Good tournament so far, despite some dodgy referee decisions.

[Axel Janssen]

I am currently 2nd in our kicktipp match.
http://www.kicktipp.de/img/gesamtuebersicht
Normally I loose in those events, but this time
- I will be under the top 3
- (and even better) I might win

(got full points for all 0:0 matches, btw., ha, ha).

Not sure about Hol - Por.
At least Portuguese plays at home. I think Portugal might win, even if Holland finally has learned penalties.
I am very sure that this will be last match of Greece.
The Czechs might win the Euro Cup a second time.
They do have the best team and aparently a good team spirit.
Even the defense wasn't that bad in their last 2.75 matches (first 20 minutes against Holland was not so good).

[Jeroen Wenting]

I'm glad I didn't enter in any bets...
I'd expected Germany-France as the finals with them betting it out for future mastery of the EU...

[Ko Ko Naing]

My guess would be Portugal and Czech will face at the Final...

PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL

[Joe King]

I'm in mourning Yet again England teased their fans into thinking they may go through, and yet again the dreaded penalties ended the hopes. Why that goal was disallowed is a mystery to me. On the upside, France and Germany are also out

I'm hoping Greece do well. Partially because my girlfriend is half Greek, and partially because its an in-built thing for Brits to want the underdog to win (or perhaps its because I support Reading, who are a very poor team, and I'm used to wanting the underdog to win because of that!). Despite that, the Czechs are my tip - they've looked superb (apart from the first half against Holland), and seem to be on a bit of a roll.

[Pradeep bhatt]

Holland or Greece will win.

[Jeroen Wenting]

Originally posted by Joe King:

I'm hoping Greece do well. Partially because my girlfriend is half Greek, and partially because its an in-built thing for Brits to want the underdog to win

It's because you're always the underdog so wanting the underdog to win is only natural for you

[Mark Fletcher]

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:


It's because you're always the underdog so wanting the underdog to win is only natural for you

I actually thought England stood a chance this year. It doesnt help when you have refs like Urs Meier making bad calls

DISCLAIMER: Im Scottish. Of course I didnt want England to win; I just wanted them to play Sweden so that Henrik Larsson could obliterate them

[Mark Fletcher]

ADSA/Walmart offer Free Eye Test if you are Urs Meier errrr... Swiss.

[Hussein Baghdadi]

I like Holland, they have RVN (Ruud Van Nis....)
they have makaay, hasslebaink, rvn, kluivert but the coach
plays only with rvn ....
did you saw RVN's goal in their game with Germany, its stunning and amazing. (sorry Axel).
I am really happy because france and italy are out.
Czech are tunks team.
I will guess the following :
1. czech republic
2. Holland
3. greece
4. Portugal
I want to say that this is the last we will see Greece doing good games.
here is my opinion :
bulgaria 94, croatia 98, turkey 02 and now greece 04.

[Damien Howard]

Telephone conversation with a lady at a "sports" bar in sacramento california:

Me: Hello, will you be playing the Euro 2004 final.
Lady: What is that?
Me: Soccer.
Lady: No.

Suffice it to say, there was a lot of cursing when I got off the phone.
I can't find a place in the sacramento area that is civilized. Does anyone know where I can catch the game in this area?

[Mark Fletcher]

Originally posted by Damien Howard:
Telephone conversation with a lady at a "sports" bar in sacramento california:

Me: Hello, will you be playing the Euro 2004 final.
Lady: What is that?
Me: Soccer.
Lady: No.

Suffice it to say, there was a lot of cursing when I got off the phone.
I can't find a place in the sacramento area that is civilized. Does anyone know where I can catch the game in this area?

You could try contacting you local Celtic Supporters Club (CSC)

CSC Sacramento

Presumably theres a bar where they go to watch the SPL/English Premiership games. And most likely that bar will be frequented by other British Expats - so theres a good chance that they'll be showing the Euro 2004 games there as well.

Rather roundabout way of going about it, but youve got nothing to lose!

Mark
[ June 29, 2004: Message edited by: Mark Fletcher ]

[Marcel de Jong]

HOLLAND WILL WIN!!!

Or at least according to the following:

European Championship 1988, played in Germany, exit Germany in semi finals
European Championship 1992, played in Sweden, exit Sweden in semi finals
European Championship 1996, played in England, exit Engeland in semi finals
European Championship 2000, played in the Netherlands, exit Holland in semi finals.
European Championship 2004, played in Portugal, exit Portugal in semi finals?

Germany champion in 1980 and 1996 = 16 year difference.
France champion in 1984 and 2000 = 16 year difference.
The Netherlands champion in 1988 and 2004 = 16 year difference.

There is one theory which is good for Portugal:

1964 Organizer: Spain. Winner: Spain.
1984 Organizer: France. Winner: France.
2004 Organizer: Portugal. Winner: Portugal.

Anyhow, I just hope for a good game by both Portugal and Holland.

Regards,
Marcel
[ June 29, 2004: Message edited by: Marcel de Jong ]

[KR Campbell]

Originally posted by Joe King:
I'm in mourning Yet again England teased their fans into thinking they may go through, and yet again the dreaded penalties ended the hopes. Why that goal was disallowed is a mystery to me.

I've been curious about that. I'm not a footy fan but I've been watching. Some experts come on the TV and say bad decision, then others come on and say good decision. Who is right? It definitely looked to me like one of the players was obstructing the goalkeeper but I don't know if that is against the rules or not. I'd would have *thought* that it was. If it's OK then it would be a pretty good tactic to try and get someone in (without going offside!) between the goalkeeper and the ball whenever possible.

I like the look of the Czechs and I might cheer the Portuguese just on account of some of the English behaviour towards them in Thetford and Jersey which I thought was utterly disgraceful.

[Joe King]

Originally posted by Jeroen Wenting:


It's because you're always the underdog so wanting the underdog to win is only natural for you

Humph. I was going to hope that Holland beat Portugal tonight, but now I'm not so sure.

[Joe King]

Originally posted by KR Campbell:

I've been curious about that. I'm not a footy fan but I've been watching. Some experts come on the TV and say bad decision, then others come on and say good decision. Who is right? It definitely looked to me like one of the players was obstructing the goalkeeper but I don't know if that is against the rules or not. I'd would have *thought* that it was. If it's OK then it would be a pretty good tactic to try and get someone in (without going offside!) between the goalkeeper and the ball whenever possible.

Its a bit of a dodgy one when its not entirely clear how much a player is obstructing another player. In this case I've seen many obstructions of a similar kind not given as a foul - it normally takes a more blatant obstruction to count. What also annoyed me was that its was an unclear situation in an important match - the ref should have taken time to speak to the linesman about it to get a second opinion. Making it slightly more dodgy was the fact that the ref seemed to give a lot more border line decisions in favour of the Portuguese throughout the match.

Despite the fact that I think the ref made a couple of very poor decisions, I dont think England should blame him too much - we lost because we couldn't hold on to our lead, and we couldnt get all our penalties on target.

[Jeroen Wenting]

Originally posted by KR Campbell:


I've been curious about that. I'm not a footy fan but I've been watching. Some experts come on the TV and say bad decision, then others come on and say good decision. Who is right? It definitely looked to me like one of the players was obstructing the goalkeeper but I don't know if that is against the rules or not. I'd would have *thought* that it was. If it's OK then it would be a pretty good tactic to try and get someone in (without going offside!) between the goalkeeper and the ball whenever possible.

During penalty sessions it's High Noon, Mano a mano, one against one, man versus machine.
The ball is placed in a fixed spot, the goalkeeper on his line and the shooter a preset distance behind the ball.
Before the referee gives the signal neither may move.
All other players must stay outside the penalty area until the ball has been touched by the goalkeeper or gone outside the area.

[Helen Thomas]

Portugal 2 - Holland 0

The BBC has some good coverage and virtual replays.

Virtual Replay hidden in here somewhere

PORTUGAL 2-1 HOLLAND 21:10
Live Score update
[ June 30, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

[Mark Fletcher]

Hey Van Nistelrooy?

If you could close the door behind you on your way out that would be great, ok?

Thanks! Bye! Have a nice day and dont be a stranger! See ya in the Premiership

[Johannes de Jong]

My patriotism had me shout for the Netherlands , but I'm glad Portugal won. I think as a nation they deserve it more than us. I feel that everybody deserves his place in the sun. We won in 1988, so we had out moment of glory. For Portugal its the first time in a final.

[Helen Thomas]

Now just wait for Portugese hooliganism to break out if Portugal loses in the final..

Newsflash :

A 75 year old football hooligan grandmother followed by her family numbering 50 persons of indiscriminate age , went on a rampage last night throwing bottles through restaurant windows as diners waited for their main course. The diners, mostly English consoling themselves and lost in their soup had to be restrained from jumping into the fray. Most diners had to go without their main course that night.The damage to a single restaurant was about 50,000 euros.

Football in Portugal is a family affair. Won't be a bad idea at all if European football tries to bring grandmothers into mainstream football. To support not play.
[ July 01, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

[Helen Thomas]

With all the nationalistic fervour in football wonder why clubs buy and sell international players for sums of money equivalent to a small country's national debt and GDP combined ?
Why can't they grow their own ?

[Axel Janssen]

Germany is in a state of deep mourning today.
Those sensitive gentlemen, our neighbours and friends, those nice dutch football-fans, are now leaving Portugal.

Anyway. Great performance by Luis Figo.
Now I am first in intra-company betting game

Portugal should win.
[ July 01, 2004: Message edited by: Axel Janssen ]

[Axel Janssen]

Originally posted by Helen Thomas:
With all the nationalistic fervour in football wonder why clubs buy and sell international players for sums of money equivalent to a small country's national debt and GDP combined ?
Why can't they grow their own ?

Because you can't simply "grow" a Luis Figo like you raise cattle.

[Helen Thomas]

Originally posted by Axel Janssen:


Because you can't simply "grow" a Luis Figo like you raise cattle.

You might be able if clubs could drop a few rules
starting with wearing regulation gear ( borrowing from English Tennis ambition to 'grow' a Wimbledon champion clubs are expected to drop the rule to play in 'whites' only i.e. white clothing).
[ July 01, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

[Joyce Lee]

Could you believe it? The first match was Portugal vs Greece. Now, the final match is going to be Portugal vs Greece.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Here we go, Ronaldo, Figo, Deco and Nuno... Wo, wo, wo....

PORTUGAL WILL REVENGE IT!!!

[Joe King]

Woohoo Greece in the final. I was downing the celebratory ouzo's last night. Did you see the pictures of the Greeks celebrating in Athens? They were going mad. Apparently the entire country is going loopy over the football at the moment - hopefully they'll still be cheerful in a couple of weeks when I'm out there... there's nothing more amusing/fun than a cheerful Greek

On a slightly less happy note, at the start of the competition I turned down the opportunity to have Greece in the work sweepstake. Damn.

[Axel Janssen]

I want Otto Rehagel back as a coach for our team.
So it will be again like in old times.
One team, having
- good organization
- eficient tactic
- great team spirit
- playing not so good football
- but allways getting into final
In old time name of this team was Germany . Now its Greece.

Unfortunatedly in new time our football management think that its more important to have some sort of elocuent press speaker as coach and not a great coach (Rehagel).

[Damien Howard]

Go Greece.

I found a place to see the game. Will cost me 15 but hopefully it will be worth it.

[Mark Fletcher]

Go Greece!

Well done on winning Euro 2004!

Mark

[Damien Howard]

That was an awesome game, although in reality I don't think the play could have been better, but all the same I'm happy with the result.

[Tim Baker]

Yep, well done greece, not least because I placed a 50p bet on them to win after their first game at 41-1

[Pradeep bhatt]

Originally posted by Pradeep Bhat:
Holland or Greece will win.

[Joe King]

Woohoo Greece are the winners. Bravo Ellatha! There was much celebrating last night in our particular corner of London

The pictures of the celebrations in Greece are incredible. I hope there's some ouzo left over when I get there next week!

Greece may not have played very attractive football, but they won because they had something that was more important - team spirit. Throughout the game the Portuguese kept falling over looking for fouls and moaning all the time. The Greeks, on the other hand, where working hard as a team. Its great to see all the celebrity teams with prima donna players go home early, while a team of people working together gets the trophy. It may well be the greatest international football upset, but it was certainly a deserved one.

A final word about the Greek fans - wasn't it great to see a few hundred fans out-sing the thousands of Portuguese fans? The Greeks showed pride and passion that was lacking in the fans of many of the other teams.